BurmaNet News, July 26, 2006

[Editor]

July 26, 2006 Issue # 3012

INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Inhumane Burmese police torture suspects in Rangoon Insein
DVB: Student assaulted by henchmen of Burma’s Myingyan authority chair
Irrawaddy: First post-graduate social work diploma offered in Burma
Khonumthung: Military to award death sentence to people opposing Jathropa
plantation

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: KIO orders suppression of critical environmental reports - Khun
Sam
Irrawaddy: Teen rebel leader surrenders to Burmese junta
SHAN: China wants its border-based groups to emulate Thai border-based groups

BUSINESS / TRADE
Bangkok Post: Burmese teak imports anger conservationists

ASEAN
Irrawaddy: Asean increases the heat on Burma
AFP: No signs Myanmar wants ASEAN chair: Malaysian FM
Japan Economic: Indonesia says few options left for ASEAN to defend Myanmar

REGIONAL
AFP: Thai UN candidate would take up Myanmar
PTI via BBC monitoring: India warns Asian partners against isolating Burma
AP: Philippine foreign secretary says meeting Suu Kyi not a condition to
his Myanmar visit

INTERNATIONAL
AP: EU allows junta FM to attend Finland summit
Reuters: Senate extends sanctions on army-ruled Myanmar

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 25, Democratic Voice of Burma
Inhumane Burmese police torture suspects in Rangoon Insein

Police officers on duty at Rangoon Insein Ywama Police Station have been
detaining people on suspicion alone and torturing them, according to local
residents.

On 21 July, deputy police chief Han Win Hlaing arrested a youth named Moe
Zaw Htet on suspicion of committing unidentified crime and tortured him
using various inhumane methods, someone close to his family told DVB.

“When I went to see the prisoner, he told me that he was going to die.
When I asked him why, (I learnt that) there were various wounds on his
head. He was tortured two whole days. What he said was – it was not me
(who committed the crime). I will die, I will die, he said. The way they
tortured him was; they dropped (hot) candle wax on his face, splashed him
with chilli water, gave him electric shocks, he told me.”

When we contacted Insein Police Station, the police denied that they were
detaining someone by the name of Moe Zaw Htet. But according to local
residents, those detained at the police station have been tortured by
various means and not allowed to see their family members unless they pay
30,000 Kyat (monthly salary of a civil servant) to the police.

____________________________________

July 25, Democratic Voice of Burma
Student assaulted by henchmen of Burma’s Myingyan authority chair

A university student from Myingyan, Mandalay Division in central Burma,
was assaulted with sticks and machetes by the henchmen of district
authority chairman for no obvious reason, on 18 July.

The student, Phyo Wai Lin received serious wounds on his left hand, his
back, shoulder and head, according to sources close to his family. But the
authorities still haven’t taken action against the culprits, according to
local residents.

When DVB contacted the local police station, an officer on duty confirmed
the report and said that the local police chief Thein Swe has been
carrying out interrogations, but refused to give details.

Exiled All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) foreign affairs
committee spokesman, Min Naing insisted that the assault on Phyo Wai Lin
is an act of injustice, and urged the authorities to take actions on the
culprits and compensate the victim.

____________________________________

July 26, Irrawaddy
First post-graduate social work diploma offered in Burma

Burma will offer its population the chance to study social work at the
post-graduate level for the first time next month, the Rangoon office of
the UN Children’s Fund has announced. The initiative comes after the
government permitted the first seminar on social work to be held in the
country earlier this year, a move that also received the backing of
UNICEF. Burma is considered to be drastically lacking social welfare
services, although the UN hopes the recent shift in attitude will help
reverse this situation in the long term. “Providing students with an
opportunity to learn about social work is a crucial step towards
developing social work as a profession in Myanmar [Burma], which can help
make positive changes in the lives of individuals, families and
communities,” UNICEF representative Ramesh Shrestha said in announcing the
program. The course—which is offered through Rangoon University’s
Department of Psychology in cooperation with government offices including
the Ministry of Education—begins on August 7. Applications are still being
accepted for the 100 places on offer, with participants scheduled to
receive their diplomas in July 2007.

____________________________________

July 26, Khonumthung News
Military to award death sentence to people opposing Jathropa plantation

The Burmese military authorities have warned people that it would award
the death sentence to anyone who speaks about the drawbacks of Jathropa
plantations in Chin state.

In the first week of July, the Tactical I commander of Chin state, Colonel
Tin Hlah warned about awarding the death sentence to people critical of
Jathropa plantations. The commander of Tactical I in Hakha, the capital of
Chin state issued this warning during his official visit to Thantlang.

Col. Tin Hlah cautioned the people during a government inter-departmental
meeting during his visit. The Colonel reportedly does not entertain any
talk about the plantation's success or failure.

A Thantlang villager told Khonumthung, "The officer regards a Jathropa
tree more precious than human life."

Jathropa has been forcibly planted by confiscation of land, five miles
from Thantlang town since 2005. The people are forced to work in this
plantation at least three times a week, sources in Thantlang added.

A farmer said, "June, July and August are hectic months for people working
in the fields. The authorities force us to work in the Jathropa
plantations even during these months. Nobody dares to oppose forced
labour."

Meanwhile, some people opined that it is because the State Peace and
Development Council wants all the people to work in the plantations that
they have warned of awarding the death sentence to those against it.

This is the first ever death warrant to the people against the plantation
of Jathropa in Chin state.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 26, Irrawaddy
KIO orders suppression of critical environmental reports - Khun Sam

The ceasefire group Kachin Independence Organization has ordered a
community development group to drop from its publication two articles
criticizing the management of natural resources in Kachin State.

The articles were to have appeared in the first publication put out by the
Pan Kachin Development Society, based in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.
The PKDS plans to publish two issues annually, concentrating on
environmental issues.

Bau Naw Ja, a senior member of the PKDS, told The Irrawaddy: “Giving no
reason, we were told to drop two articles if our magazine was to be
published.” A KIO official confirmed that a request had been made for the
articles to be dropped.

The PKDS, a civil, non-political organization, has a branch office in
Maija Yang, a Kachin town on the Burmese-Chinese border, an area
controlled by the KIO, the biggest Kachin ceasefire group.

Although the KIO has no real authority to censor PKDS publications, it can
hinder their distribution within Kachin State. “Actually I don’t think
they have the right to censor,” said Bau Naw Ja. “But we submitted it [the
publication] to them to avoid dispute because we live in their controlled
area.”

According to the PKDS, the KIO has decreed that NGOs should submit written
reports or news about their activities to a KIO body called the Kachin
Relief and Development Council.

The two articles the KIO wants dropped describe the exhaustion of natural
resources in Kachin State because of alleged mismanagement by Kachin and
Burmese junta officials.

Late last year the KIO succeeded in banning an environmental report which
it claimed tarnished its image and possibly its relations with the Burmese
regime.

Activists suggest that the censorship demands result from a KIO dislike of
international NGOs operating in its controlled area.

____________________________________

July 26, Irrawaddy
Teen rebel leader surrenders to Burmese junta

State-run The New Light of Myanmar reported on Wednesday the surrender of
18-year-old Johnny Htoo, the leader of an armed opposition group called
God’s Army.

Photos carried by Burma’s official daily suggested that the rebel
group—comprising Johnny Htoo and nine others also handed over a cache of
weapons and uniforms.

God’s Army was founded in 1997 and claimed a membership of some 200
soldiers. The armed faction was led by two Karen twin brothers—Johnny Htoo
and Luther Htoo—both just 12 years old at the time.

During a Burma Army counterinsurgency attack on their village in Karen
State in 1997, the two young brothers rallied their neighbors and drove
out the government soldiers, leading their followers to believe
subsequently that the twins were impervious to bullets and landmines.

State-run media reported on Tuesday evening that Johnny Htoo, and nine
others had disappeared from a refugee camp along the Thai-Burmese border
about ten days ago and surrendered in two groups on July 17 and July 19 to
the head of Burma’s Coastal Command in southern Burma.

The surrendering group is said to have included Johnny Htoo’s father. His
mother, his brother Luther Htoo, and his wife and child remain in the
refugee camp.

Karen sources along the border said the surrender of the group did not
include any weapons or uniforms. They added that it would have been
impossible for them to maintain weapons caches while living in a Thai
refugee camp.

God’s Army made international headlines in early 2000 when ten guerrillas
seized a provincial hospital in Ratchaburi in western Thailand and took
200 hostages. They demanded medical assistance for comrades wounded in
clashes with the Burma Army. All ten attackers were killed in a raid by
Thai military forces.

Just months earlier, in October 1999, members of God’s Army were involved
in the brief takeover of the Burmese embassy in Bangkok. The incident
ended without bloodshed.

In late 2000, the twins and their Karen soldiers officially surrendered to
the Thai military, which had initiated a crackdown on the group following
the hospital seizure.

Chuan Leekpai, then prime minister of Thailand, said that the young
leaders of God’s Army were just kids after meeting them. “I would like to
see them reunite with their parents and go to school like any other normal
kids,” he was quoted as saying in January 2001.

The twins were sent to Ban Don Yang refugee camp in Thailand’s Sankhlaburi
district, where they reportedly refused an offer of asylum from the US
embassy in Bangkok.

____________________________________

July 25, Shan Herald News for Agency
China wants its border-based groups to emulate Thai border-based groups

Embattled China would like armed groups along its border lending their
eyes and ears to it in its war against drugs coming from Burma, according
to a senior law enforcement officer in Ruili, opposite Burma’s Muse.

“We would want them to be like the KNU (Karen National Union), KNPP
(Karenni National Progressive Party) and the SSA (Shan State Army), South,
on whom we can rely on when it comes to information on drugs,” said a
Chinese police officer of Dai/Shan origin. “We really envy Thailand for
being able to work with them to its advantage.”

Vital intelligence for some of the kingdom’s major drug busts, he said,
was furnished by the anti-junta groups. “But the ceasefire and (pro-junta)
militia groups on our side of the border are good only for trade, but not
much against drugs,” he sighed.

Several armed groups along the Sino-Burma border are notorious as drug
producing and trafficking armies, especially Kokang, Wa, Kachin Democratic
Army (KDA), Panghsay militia and the Manpang militia.

Among them, the Wa had declared its renunciation of drugs last year. “We
had expected assistance from far and near,” said a United Wa State Army
(UWSA) source in Panghsang. “But what we got instead was the closure of
the border which has deprived us of what little revenue we could expect
from the timber and mineral exports. It is like pulling the rug from under
our feet.”

The Wa deputy leader Xiao Minliang had again on June 26, pledged to
continue keeping all the areas under its control drug-free (“a supreme
sacrifice,” he had remarked) whatever the outcome.

The northern region of Burma is still the main source of drugs and pose
the biggest menace to China, according Chen Cunyi, Deputy Secretary
General of the National Narcotics Control Commission, reported Xinhua on
June 22.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

July 26, Bangkok Post
Burmese teak imports anger conservationists

The decision to allow the import of teak logs from Burma through Chiang
Rai has brought cries of alarm from conservationists. They warn that
allowing the resumption of Burmese teak imports will only lead to an
increase in illegal logging in Thai forests.

The Mae Sai customs office in Chiang Rai has allowed the import of 270
teak logs worth about 40 million baht via the second Thai-Burmese
friendship bridge.

The 270 cubic metres of high-grade timber belongs to Siva Co, a firm run
by Thai businessmen.

It is the first time the import of Burmese teak has been allowed through
Chiang Rai province.

The Mae Sai customs office said the Bangkok-bound logs, 60-100cm wide, are
being temporarily kept at a warehouse in tambon Mae Sai.

Sasin Chalermlab, secretary-general of the Sueb Nakhasathien Foundation,
expressed concern that Thai teak trees in the northern provinces would be
felled as well and illegally included in the convoy of imported timber.

''This has happened before whenever the government has approved the import
of Burmese timber.

''What the poachers do is fell the trees in Thai forests along the border
and then smuggle them into Burma in order to import them back as Burmese
logs,'' said Mr Sasin.

He called on the government to impose a permanent ban on Burmese timber
imports because ''deforestation in the neighbouring country was bound to
cause negative environmental impacts in Thailand, whose forest cover is
interconnected with Burma's''.

Timber imports from Burma were halted after the 1997 Salween logging
scandal when it was found that the trees felled in the Salween National
Park were smuggled into Burma before being imported back into Thailand.

Mae Sai customs chief Chuchai Udompote revealed that another shipment of
20,000 teak logs, amounting to about 20,000 cubic metres, was waiting
across the Burmese border and would be imported into Chiang Rai via the
second friendship bridge soon.

The bridge, crossing the Mae Sai river, was opened in January. It links
the Mae Sai district with the Burmese town of Tachilek.

Mr Chuchai said his agency had taxed Siva Co 3.2 million baht for the log
imports.

The firm had sought permission to import 620 Burmese teak logs, worth
about 100 million baht, from the Thai-Burma Township Border Committee
(TBC) in Mae Sai district in December last year.

Anond Makmasil, of Siva Co, told the committee that teak imports from
Burma were needed to ease a teak shortage in Thailand.

Burma exported about 500,000 cubic metres of timber to 167 countries last
year, he said.

____________________________________
ASEAN

July 26, Irrawaddy
Asean increases the heat on Burma - Clive Parker

Asean stepped up its public condemnation of the Burmese military regime at
its annual foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, while
admitting that the only path to reform may lie outside the bloc.

After two days of discussions, media reports from the Malaysian capital
confirmed that Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win had shown at a closed
briefing with his Asean partners that Burma had made no progress towards
democracy.

A frustrated Asean late on Tuesday issued its most strongly-worded
collective statement yet on Burma—albeit not as explicit as had been
predicted—in calling for “tangible progress” in the country. In an
apparent reference to the protracted house arrest in Rangoon of democracy
icon Aung San Suu Kyi, the statement said: “We [the ministers] reiterated
our calls for the early release of those placed under detention and for
effective dialogue with all parties concerned.”

Although the joint message on Burma was less critical than expected,
commentators noted that it was far more explicit than that of the annual
meeting in 2005 in Vientiane, when Asean announced that Burma would
relinquish its right to the Asean chairmanship in 2006 “to focus its
attention on the ongoing national reconciliation and democratization
process.”

Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus spokesman Roshan Jason said this
year’s message was much closer to the line taken by those calling for
change in Burma, both in and outside the country. The National League for
Democracy, Suu Kyi’s opposition party, was unavailable for comment on
Wednesday.

More significant though were individual comments from Asean foreign
ministers on Wednesday, most notably Thailand’s Kantathi Suphamongkhon,
who told Reuters: “If there had been tangible progress [from Burma] going
on, then there might not be a need to have
a [UN Security Council]
meeting,” he said, referring to whether the Burma issue should be
addressed by the council. “I think that Asean would probably have no
objection to that,” he added.

Kantathi’s comments echoed those of the outgoing Asean chair, Malaysia,
whose Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told AIPMC parliamentarians before
this week’s meeting: “I am aware that the AIPMC has publicly supported
this [UNSC] move, and of course it would be very difficult for Asean
governments to ignore the views of their democratically elected
legislators.”

He added: “Let me assure you that the views of the AIPMC have significant
bearing in the decision making process of Asean with regard to the issue
on Myanmar [Burma].”

Asean member the Philippines said when it was a non-permanent member of
the UNSC last year that it would back the US-led position to bring a Burma
resolution to the UNSC, though its council membership has now ended.
Manila takes over the chairmanship of Asean in Burma’s place for one year
starting on Friday.

Philippine congressman Mario Joyo Aguya, a member of AIPMC, noted that
although Asean had collectively become more explicit on Burma, confusion
had increased on the bloc’s actual position given the very strong
individual statements from ministers.

“I’m not sure Asean is willing to call the [UN] Security Council to work
with Asean to come up with a resolution of the problem,” he said.

He also warned against an exasperated Asean admitting failure on Burma:
“Just saying there is nothing we can do, then what do we expect the
international community to do?”

He added: “I think to resolve the problem of Burma requires a collective
initiative and I think it’s not limited to Asean. I think it’s important
for Asean to have a very concrete position.”

The issue is likely to continue at the Asean Regional Forum, which follows
the Asean annual meeting on Thursday, as ministers meet with external
partners to discuss mainly security. US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice, who is due to attend the meeting despite her current involvement in
urgent Middle East talks, has already said that Burma will be a major
talking point at the ARF meeting, along with North Korea and the Middle
East crisis in Lebanon.

____________________________________

July 26, Agence France Presse
No signs Myanmar wants ASEAN chair: Malaysian FM

Myanmar has shown no indications it wants to lead ASEAN next year despite
being entitled to under an alphabetical rotation system, Malaysian Foreign
Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Wednesday.

Singapore will now assume leadership of the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations in July 2007, after the Philippines takes over
from Malaysia later this month, he said.

"I think Myanmar still feels that they are not ready to take the
chairmanship of ASEAN and to host the ASEAN meetings so they miss their
turn," Syed Hamid told a news conference.

"At present Myanmar has not given any indication that they are desirous of
the post."

At ASEAN's annual meeting in Laos last year, military-ruled Myanmar
abandoned its chance to chair the bloc for one year from late 2006 because
of international pressure over democratic reforms.

Myanmar's official reason was that the country was not ready to lead ASEAN
as it needed time to focus on its reform program.

Under a formula that allowed Myanmar to pass up its chance, ASEAN foreign
ministers had agreed that the country could retake the chair if it was
ready to.

"Myanmar has not given indication that they want to take (leadership of)
the summit. So long as they do not say anything, they will miss their
turn. They have missed their turn and we'll go on with the alphabetical
(order)."

Chairing ASEAN involves setting the group's agenda and hosting a series of
meetings, including the leaders' summit in December and the ASEAN Regional
Forum (ARF) in July.

The ARF is Asia's top security arena, which includes the foreign ministers
of ASEAN as well as the United States, Russia, Japan, China and India.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

____________________________________

July 26, Japan Economic
Indonesia says few options left for ASEAN to defend Myanmar

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Wednesday there are not
many options left for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to help
defend Myanmar facing international pressures on the democratic process.

"There is not much of that. The only option is the option that only
Myanmar knows," Wirajuda told a joint press conference with the foreign
ministers of Australia, East Timor, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the
Philippines who joined the so-called "Southwest Pacific Dialogue" in Kuala
Lumpur.

"We leave it to Myanmar for them to settle," he added.

The dialogue was held on the sidelines of a series of ASEAN meetings that
have been taking place in the Malaysian capital since Saturday.

ASEAN, which has held sacred the principle of noninterference, has been
put on the spot by Myanmar's junta. After years of pursuing a policy of
constructive engagement with Myanmar's generals, the regional bloc is
facing international pressures as its diplomatic efforts have failed to
pay off.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was given the cold shoulder
when he visited Yangon in March as ASEAN envoy to prod the generals to
loosen their tight grip. Junta leader Sr. Gen. Than Shwe declined to see
him, and he was also not allowed to meet detained pro-democracy icon Aung
San Suu Kyi.

"If they don't want to see us involved in their problems because they said
it's a domestic problem, so be it," Wirajuda said.

"But at the same time, as we are not equipped with any ammunition, I'm
sure Myanmar knows it very well that they cannot invoke ASEAN's
solidarity, they cannot expect much from ASEAN to help them, to defend
them," he added.

In their annual meeting, ASEAN foreign ministers expressed frustration at
the slow pace of progress in Myanmar, a fellow member since 1997.

They took Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win to task during their meetings
over the last two days, but ASEAN, which has admitted to failing to bring
change in Myanmar, pushed for the United Nations to deal with the junta.

In a joint communique issued at the end of their meeting, the ministers
expressed "concern on the pace of the national reconciliation process" and
called for the early release of political detainees.

Asked whether Myanmar promised to step up its democratic process during
the meeting, Wirajuda said, "Well, they didn't explicitly promise what
they are going to do."

ASEAN will also not send its envoy to Myanmar again in the near future,
Wirajuda said.

"We are disappointed that the visit of Foreign Minister Syed Hamid to
Myanmar last April was not that successful as we all wanted," he said.

"In fact, we regretted the fact that Myanmar should have been more
welcoming in dealing with the ASEAN family. That's why we do not have any
plans for our chairman to visit (Myanmar) again. Of course, it depends on
the development, but as of now, we don't have any," he added.

On Tuesday, ASEAN senior officials said Myanmar has agreed to allow U.N.
Undersecretary Ibrahim Gambari to return to Yangon for a second visit to
assess the democratic reforms in the military-ruled country.

The Nigerian diplomat met with Suu Kyi in May this year, becoming the
first foreigner to see her since 2004.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 26, Agence France Presse
Thai UN candidate would take up Myanmar

Thailand's candidate to be the next UN Secretary General said Wednesday he
would push for democratic reforms in military-ruled Myanmar if elected.

Thai deputy premier Surakiart Sathirathai, championed by the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the top United Nations job, said he
would also press the junta for the release of Nobel prize winner Aung San
Suu Kyi.

"Definitely. I believe in the role of the Secretary-General in good
offices," Surakiart told reporters when asked if he would lean on Yangon
for more democracy.

"(Kofi Annan) has done a lot, and we would pick up from the work he has
done and continue to work closely with ASEAN," he said on the sidelines of
a regional meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

Surakiart, who reportedly polled third in a recent UN Security Council
straw poll of four candidates for the UN job, said he understood local
"complications" because he was from the region.

"We know it is important that democracy must take place in Myanmar as soon
as possible and Aung San Suu Kyi should be released as soon as possible,"
he added.

Kofi Annan completes his second five-year term as Secretary General at the
end of the year. An informal consensus is that it is Asia's turn to assume
the job, in line with an unwritten rule of regional rotation at the world
body.

In Monday's secret Security Council poll, South Korea's Foreign Minister
Ban Ki-Moon came first followed by Indian candidate Shashi Tharoor, the
UN's undersecretary in charge of communications, according to Indian
media.

Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon said on Tuesday that ASEAN
was still confident about its candidate's prospects.

____________________________________

July 26, Press Trust of India via BBC monitoring
India warns Asian partners against isolating Burma

Text of report by Jaishree Balasubramanian by Indian news agency PTI

India, which has been urged to use its influence to bring democratic
reforms in Myanmar [Burma], Wednesday [26 July] said one specific country
cannot be isolated and chided for not following democratic norms as there
are others in the category.

At the same time, New Delhi underlined the importance of democracy after
Australia asked it to use its influence on Myanmar to help turn the ASEAN
[Association of Southeast Asian Nations] member a "new leaf".

"We do not choose our neighbours, we have to live harmoniously. There are
other neighbours too who are not following democratic norms," Junior
Minister for Defence Rao Indrajit Singh said, apparently referring to
Pakistan.

Singh, who is here to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum, told Australian
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer that New Delhi has always been a
champion of democracy.

"We wish democracy would prevail, but we cannot isolate Myanmar, there are
other countries too," Singh told PTI after meeting Downer and Vietnamese
Foreign Minister Tham Gia Khiem at bilateral meetings ahead of the ARF.

India enjoyed good and peaceful ties with Yangon [Rangoon], Singh said
adding, "we have to live with them."

He also credited Myanmar with squashing ambitions of terrorists from
India's northeast who wanted to seek refuge there.

ASEAN has been disappointed with Myanmar's refusal to take steps towards
democratic reforms and the continuing house arrest of Nobel laureate Aung
Sang Suu Kyi. Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said in an
article in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that since Myanmar did not
want to cooperate with ASEAN, countries like China and India which enjoyed
good ties with Yangon could try and influence it.

However, a joint communique issued by the ASEAN foreign ministers
yesterday after their annual meeting here said that the grouping
recognized that Myanmar needed both time and political space to deal with
its many and complex challenges.

On the issue of supplying uranium to India, Downer said Australia would
have difficulty in doing so since they had not supplied to non-NPT [Non
Proliferation Treaty] signatories so far.

"That is their constraint," Singh said adding, Downer noted that the
outcome of the US-India nuclear deal may influence things.

On his meeting with Vietnam's new foreign minister, Singh said both
countries felt the need to strengthen the warm ties they have had for
several years. Vietnam has expressed keen interest in cooperating with
India in the areas of investment and IT and wanted to have broader
engagement with New Delhi.

Later, the ministers of the East Asia Summit's participating states had a
luncheon meeting where it was noted that the 17 priority areas identified
by the member countries when they met last year for the first meeting had
been brought down to five. These are energy, finance, education, avian flu
and national disaster mitigation.

However, Singh noted that the issue of counter-terrorism efforts which had
been there in the earlier agenda was no longer there. The issue of a
pan-Asian free trade area as envisaged by India and Japan too did not find
place in the revised agenda.

____________________________________

July 26, Associated Press
Philippine foreign secretary says meeting Suu Kyi not a condition to his
Myanmar visit

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said Wednesday that he would
visit military-ruled Myanmar sometime next month but would not try to meet
with detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Romulo said he has accepted an invitation from Myanmar's military junta
for him to visit as a Philippine envoy "sometime in August," but specific
dates and details were still being worked out.

Romulo, who was attending a conference of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, told reporters that he would not
insist on meeting Suu Kyi, who has spent 11 of the past 17 years under
house arrest at the hands of the ruling junta.

"There are no preconditions in our acceptance of the invitation," he said.

Myanmar has become a source of embarrassment to the 10-member ASEAN,
largely because the government has failure to fulfill promises to restore
democracy and free political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.

ASEAN foreign ministers this week pressed Myanmar to show "tangible
progress" on democratic reforms and sought the release of political
detainees in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar made a fact-finding visit to
Myanmar last March as an ASEAN envoy, but he was not allowed to meet Nobel
laureate Suu Kyi and other members of her National League for Democracy
party.

Romulo has indicated that he may raise the issue of political reforms to
leaders of Myanmar's junta during his visit.

The Philippines is among the most vocal critics of Myanmar, but Romulo
said he would "shut his mouth" on the issue of democratic reforms there
until Manila has assumed ASEAN's chairmanship later this week from
Malaysia.

Myanmar was forced to give up the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN this year
following protests by the United States and Europe.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962, and the current crop of
generals took power in 1988. They called elections in 1990 but refused to
recognize the results, which gave a resounding victory to Suu Kyi's party.

ASEAN members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.

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INTERNATIONAL

July 26, Associated Press
EU allows junta FM to attend Finland summit - Sean Yoong

The EU said on Wednesday it will allow Burma’s foreign minister to fly to
Finland for a summit of Asian and European leaders, despite an EU ban on
giving visas to the military-ruled country's top officials.

The move contrasts sharply with the EU's failed efforts to block Burma
from participating in the last Asia-Europe biennial summit in Vietnam in
2004 because of the Southeast Asian nation's poor human rights and
democracy record.

"According to our preliminary information, Myanmar [Burma] is going to be
represented by the foreign minister, so our intention is to grant a visa
for the minister," said Hanna Lehtimen, secretary-general of the summit
secretariat.

She said Burma has proposed that its delegation for the September 10-11
Asia-Europe Summit, or ASEM, be led by Foreign Minister Nyan Win instead
of the prime minister.

Had Burma proposed sending the prime minister, it could have been a
problem, she added. "The higher the representation, the more complicated
it would be," she said.

The EU bans top officials of Burma’s ruling junta from traveling to
Europe, but applications by other generals wishing to travel with Nyan Win
for the summit "will be handled on an individual basis," she said.

The visa exemption for Nyan Win is to "promote the critical dialogue
between the European Union and Myanmar," Lehtimen said, but stressed that
Europe remains concerned about lack of democratic reforms in Burma.

"This should be seen by no means as a softening of our stand," she said.
"But we think the Myanmar issue should not dominate the agenda between
Europe and Asia. It's a problem for the whole international community, so
I don't think we should be held hostage by this problem."

The previous summit in Hanoi had nearly been scuttled over EU attempts to
bar Burma’s participation, over the protests of the regional bloc Asean,
of which Burma is a member. A last-minute compromise allowed Burma to be
represented by a lower-level delegation.

The ASEM grouping was launched in 1996 to counter American influence in
both Asia and Europe. The forum's expansion has rekindled interest in
cultivating inter-regional ties at a time when increasingly unilateral US
policy has drawn negative reaction worldwide.

Leaders at this year's summit are expected to discuss issues such as
inter-religious dialogue and adopt a declaration on combating climate
change, Lehtimen said.

____________________________________

July 26, Reuters
Senate extends sanctions on army-ruled Myanmar

The Senate on Wednesday voted to extend sanctions on Myanmar for three
years in a move that came as the ruling junta faced growing pressure to
reform from fellow Southeast Asian states.
Myanmar, which the United States calls by its traditional name Burma, has
been scorned in the West for years for its poor human rights record and is
now under fire from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

A co-sponsor of the bill to extend the 2003 Burmese Freedom and Democracy
Act, Sen. Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record), said the sanctions
target "the illegitimate, dictatorial regime that currently holds Burma in
its grip: the Orwellian-named State Peace and Development Council."

The Kentucky Republican said the sanctions were supported by the people of
Myanmar, where the army refuses to hand power to a government elected in
1990 and holds opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi under house arrest.

McConnell also called for the U.N. Security Council to conduct "less talk
and more action" on Myanmar. The council held its first-ever briefings on
Myanmar in December 2005 and May of this year but took no action.

In a statement welcoming the Senate's vote, Aung Din, policy director of
the U.S. Campaign for Burma, said: "Now is the time for the U.N. Security
Council to get involved in Burma with a decisive course of action that
combines diplomacy and pressure."

The House of Representatives voted to extend the sanctions, which ban
imports, two weeks ago. President George W. Bush was expected to sign the
measure.

Myanmar is likely to be a focus of discussion at the annual ASEAN Regional
Forum this week in Malaysia, which will include U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and her counterparts from China and Russia.

Earlier this week, ASEAN ministers issued rare public criticism of
Myanmar, which diplomats say has become an embarrassment to the 10-nation
grouping it joined in 1997.